Dernier Slips Into New Season

MESA, ARIZ. — Robert Eugene Dernier acts like a kid with a new pair of shoes.

``I`m ready to dance now. Let me play with this new pair of house slippers and you`ll see me cover ground like a blanket,`` said Dernier, the Cubs` lithe center-fielder.

Dernier`s ``new house slippers,`` as he calls them, are a different type of shoe designed to alleviate pressure on his tender left foot, which he had surgery on last year. He went on the disabled list June 15 and had a bursa sac and a ganglion removed from the top of his foot two days later.

He was reactivated July 7 but was slowed considerably the rest of the season. Dernier`s old shoe, with conventional lacing, further aggravated the foot.

Now the foot is in the other shoe.

``I learned a lot of lessons last year. I really struggled just to get through the second half,`` the 6-foot, 165-pound Dernier said at the Cubs`

spring training camp. ``Playing the whole second half of the season with a hole in my foot became a pain in the foot and a pain in the mind.

``Toward the end of the year, I got pretty frustrated. I couldn`t bunt as much because I lost about a half-step. I couldn`t cut the corners on the bases. I was just treading water. That`s all I could do.``

Dernier, 29, wound up hitting .254 with 20 doubles and 31 stolen bases in 121 games. In the Cubs` 1984 National League East championship season, the club`s leadoff man hit a major-league career-high .278 with 26 doubles and 45 stolen bases. He also earned a Gold Glove for his defensive prowess.

After last season, Dernier went to Dr. Truitt Swaim, his hometown doctor in Kansas City, Mo., and had the foot operated on a second time.

``Dr. Swaim basically just reopened the sore and reirrigated it, cleaned it up and sewed it up and made me immobile for two to three weeks, and then it was completely healed,`` said Dernier. ``During the season it never had a chance to heal because the infection was still open.``

Cubs` manager Jim Frey is counting on Dernier to reassume his leadoff duties and set the table for No. 2 hitter Gary Matthews and No. 3 man Ryne Sandberg.

``We need Bobby for his extraordinary defense, and he gives us the leadoff man who can steal bases,`` said Frey. ``He`s probably as good as anybody in baseball as far as running down fly balls. We appreciated him more, maybe, when he wasn`t in there. There were a lot of games last year when I was standing in the dugout and we were letting games get away from us. I was saying to myself that if Bobby was out there, the inning would be over.``

The Cubs` 13-game losing streak in June, which sent them tumbling out of first place for good, coincided with Dernier`s trip to the disabled list. He hit .264 before going on the DL and .246 after his return.

``It`s not like that was the single reason we lost 13 in a row, because it certainly wasn`t,`` said Dernier. ``Guys like Rick Sutcliffe and Dennis Eckersley and Jody Davis being hurt didn`t help at all.``

To provide insurance for themselves in case they lose Dernier or Matthews to injury in 1986, the Cubs acquired veteran outfielder Jerry Mumphrey over the winter from Houston. He can play all three outfield positions and is a .287 career hitter.

``As far as him coming over here, I think it makes us a better ballclub,`` said Dernier.

``(Keith) Moreland and Sarge (Matthews) really want Bobby to get to the balls in the outfield because they can`t get to a lot of them themselves,``

said Piersall. ``They depend on him so much.``

``I take pride in being able to cover the ground and pick up the guys on the wings,`` said Dernier. ``Gary and Zonk (Moreland) have been easy to work with. They give me complete control out there for balls that are hit in the gaps.

``Jimmy Piersall has obviously got the reputation of having been a great outfielder in his day. Anybody who hits 100 home runs in his career--no matter how he runs around the bases--can hit. He`s out there working us pretty good. I listen to him, and I respect the guy. If he wants to make us roll around on the ground for a little while, that`s fine with me, too. I`ll go through any kind of a routine he wants.``